Disney Movie

AFTER READING Ilene Barth's critique of the new Disney movie, One Magic Christmas, I have to say that columnist Barth was too harsh. She worried about children taking up with strangers and that the movie might work against parental warnings against this.As I watched the movie with my daughters, 2 and 4, I also was hoping they wouldn't get mixed messages about the strange-looking Christmas angel. But by the time the movie was over I was feeling so good about it that I forgot how seedy the stranger looked.

During the "Frozen" phenomenon's first six months, the Disney movie raked in $1.2 billion worldwide at the box office, inspired the sale of countless princess gowns and prompted kids and grownups to wait four hours to meet film heroines Elsa and Anna at the theme parks. "Let It Go," the film's anthem, nabbed an Oscar. The "Disney on Ice: Frozen" figure-skating show debuted, and a Broadway-style "Frozen" play was proposed. And Walt Disney Co. chief Robert Iger proclaimed "Frozen" one of the company's top five franchises.

M-I-C.See who's introducing The Disney Sunday Movie.K-E-Y.Why? Because Disney considers the series crucial to prosperity.E-I-S-N-E-R.All right, so it's Michael, not Mickey, Eisner who's acting as front man for the Disney movie series. But the gist of that little sing-along holds true.When the Walt Disney Company re-established its network presence on ABC in Febuary after several years' absence, it fell to Eisner, 44, the company's balding but nonetheless boyish chairman and chief operating officer, to fill Walt Disney's on-air shoes.

"Frozen" is such a hot commodity that parents already wait in line at Epcot for hours so their kids can meet the film's two princesses, and Disneyphiles speculate that the movie could eventually play a major role at the theme parks. The Disney animated film, set in the fictional, icy land of Arendelle, has made almost $1 billion at the box office worldwide since its November release. It will be in the running for two Oscars - including best animated feature - when the Academy Awards are presented Sunday night.

Walt Disney Pictures says its 2003 blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, is based on rides at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. But a Seminole County man claims some character names and plot points were pirated from a low-budget short film he made in the mid-1990s. Royce Mathew of Altamonte Springs outlined his case in a 200-page lawsuit, with another 186 pages of exhibits, filed Friday in federal court in Orlando. Mathew is acting as his own attorney. Mathew claims that Disney's movie uses names, characters and situations from his movie, which was later used in a 1995 computer game called Treasure Island.

DISNEY DESERVES kudos for standing up to a knee-jerking minority that thinks that it owns the word ''family.''I am positively thrilled that the Southern Baptists may decide to boycott Disney. Perhaps at last I can find refuge from bigots by visiting Walt Disney World or watching a Disney movie in the theater.World or watching a Disney movie in the theatre.Ron EllisWEST MELBOURNE

There'll be no shortage of Disney tie-ins at McDonald's in the coming months, as the burger company attempts to improve sales.``Did Somebody Say McDonald's?'' will continue to be the company's key advertising slogan, but it will be wrapped around several sandwich and toy promotions with the mammoth entertainment company.Walt Disney Co. and McDonald's signed a 10-year global marketing agreement in 1996, after Disney and Burger King parted ways as partners.Customers can expect the McDonald's McRib sandwich to make a comeback with the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom park next month, said Brad Ball, senior vice president of domestic marketing.

The kids undoubtedly love Disney's The Little Mermaid movie (1989) and its heroine, Ariel.This weekend at Epcot, they can see Jodi Benson (left), who voiced Ariel, in person. (Actually, Mermaid animators used some of Benson's mannerisms in drawing Ariel so you and the kids can make a game out of matching her with her cartoon counterpart.)Benson, who will be singing with the Disney/Grammy College Orchestra at Epcot, was also a presence in another recent Disney movie - she was the voice of a computer in Flubber.

Beauty and the Beast is the fairy tale that became a Disney movie (the only animated feature ever to be nominated for a best-picture Oscar) and then a Disney Broadway musical. The show is still running at the Lunt-Fontanne theater in New York, but you can see it closer to home - with a road production housed at Orlando's Carr Performing Arts Centre through April 23. (See Elizabeth Maupin's review on Page 50 in this very issue of Calendar.) Check it out: Curtain times for the Orlando Broadway Series presentation are 8 p.m. today, Saturday and Tuesday through next Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday (also, 2 and 8 p.m. April 22, 1 and 6:30 p.m. April 23)

"Frozen" is such a hot commodity that parents already wait in line at Epcot for hours so their kids can meet the film's two princesses, and Disneyphiles speculate that the movie could eventually play a major role at the theme parks. The Disney animated film, set in the fictional, icy land of Arendelle, has made almost $1 billion at the box office worldwide since its November release. It will be in the running for two Oscars - including best animated feature - when the Academy Awards are presented Sunday night.

" Disney on Ice Presents: Treasure Trove" is a time capsule of Disney animated movies, with the ice show capturing gems from the studio's first film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1938), to its 50th, 2010's "Tangled" — not every movie, though, only eight). A musical medley from the Disney classics will be presented by more than 50 characters, including Ariel's crustaceous friend, Sebastian (from "The Little Mermaid" ), who will lead the favorite "Under the Sea. " Why go: There's a new spin on the performances ... they're interactive..

The Lake County Historical Museum in Tavares recently acquired a seven-foot tall metal replica of Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's Apprentice in the Disney movie "Fantasia. " The statue is a one of a kind piece made by artist Bob Grenier Sr., who is the father of Bob Grenier, the vice mayor of Tavares and local historian. Walt Disney's parents were the first couple to apply for a marriage license in the newly formed Lake County. The museum is housed in the historic courthouse, 317 W. Main St., Tavares.

It's no secret that many people use their love of all things Disney in creative ways that extend beyond the theme parks and Hollywood films. Parents use photos of Cinderella Castle as the background art for Shutterfly birthday invitations and Winkflash holiday cards. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck cartoon images are used to grace everything from card-stock stationery to the rear windows of SUVs. Of course, Disney movie characters are used as familiar social-media avatars, too. But what if you want to use the medium of written communication to express yourself in a uniquely Disney fashion?

Credit-card information for an undisclosed number of Disney Movie Club members worldwide was reportedly offered for sale -- illegally -- by an employee of a sales account-processing company who was then arrested by federal agents. Disney sent letters last week to an undisclosed number of members of its movie club, warning them that their names and addresses, and their credit cards' types, numbers and expiration dates, were in the hands of a suspect arrested in a federal undercover sting.

WINNETKA, Ill. -- On a recent Saturday morning Cami Beghou, 13, pushed the right side of a tall, white bookcase built into one of the powder-pink walls in her bedroom. The bookcase, holding rows of books, a stuffed dachshund and a volleyball, silently swung outward, revealing a small, well-lighted room. Containing a desk, a chair and a laptop computer, it serves as her study area. Cami, an eighth grader, considers the hidden room the best thing about her family's 8-month-old French Colonial-style house in this Chicago suburb.

Walt Disney Co. will provide America Online Web sites with exclusive movie content as Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger looks for fresh ways to reach audiences. America Online's Moviefone.com, for example, may offer a "first look" at images and scenes from films such as The Chronicles of Narnia, a planned holiday release from Disney, the companies said Friday. Time Warner Inc. runs America Online. The move is the second this month by Iger to open new channels to distribute Disney content.

During the "Frozen" phenomenon's first six months, the Disney movie raked in $1.2 billion worldwide at the box office, inspired the sale of countless princess gowns and prompted kids and grownups to wait four hours to meet film heroines Elsa and Anna at the theme parks. "Let It Go," the film's anthem, nabbed an Oscar. The "Disney on Ice: Frozen" figure-skating show debuted, and a Broadway-style "Frozen" play was proposed. And Walt Disney Co. chief Robert Iger proclaimed "Frozen" one of the company's top five franchises.

Before there was a Jurassic Park or The Lost World, there was The Land Before Time, a 1988 cartoon fable set in the prehistoric era.Director Don Bluth is a former Disney animator.Though not a Disney movie as such, The Land Before Time is in the classic Disney tradition: Its story has a certain mythic scope, and so does its visual presentation.The G-rated film stresses the importance of listening to your heart, and the value of working together with those who are different from you.These themes are charmingly illustrated in a story about five young dinosaurs of different species who band together when they are orphaned or separated from their parents in an earthquake.

Some Disney movies recently got good ink in the Florida Baptist Witness. Normally that wouldn't merit a mention -- except that these were the newspaper's first reviews of Mouse films in eight years. That's because the Southern Baptists just ended their boycott of All Things Disney in June. The group -- or some members, anyway -- had rejected the company since 1997. They didn't like Disney's offering health-insurance benefits to the partners of gay employees, among other things. The generally positive reviewer looked at nine films, some going back as far as 1999.

Walt Disney Pictures says its 2003 blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, is based on rides at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland. But a Seminole County man claims some character names and plot points were pirated from a low-budget short film he made in the mid-1990s. Royce Mathew of Altamonte Springs outlined his case in a 200-page lawsuit, with another 186 pages of exhibits, filed Friday in federal court in Orlando. Mathew is acting as his own attorney. Mathew claims that Disney's movie uses names, characters and situations from his movie, which was later used in a 1995 computer game called Treasure Island.